Bottlenecks in rare metal supply and the importance of recycling – a Japanese perspective

Abstract

Rare metals are less common metals that are generally perceived to be scarce. The media often presents one-track thinking on the depletion of mineral resources. Despite this common notion, the supply of most rare metalsincluding rare earth metals (REMs)in terms of the amount of minerals available in known deposits is not a serious problem. Key factors that determine the supply of rare metals are the costs of mining and smelting, and related environmental destruction. These are the major practical constraints, rather than the amount of mineral deposits in the earth. When extracting rare metals from recycled feed material, harmful wastes generated from natural ore processing can be avoided. This is the primary advantage of the cyclical use of rare metal resources. In this article, bottlenecks of rare metal supply, and the importance of recycling, are discussed, using REMs as an example.

Rare earths: A review of the landscape

“…Quantity of REEs in some products. 4,101,115 Table 3. Pattern for rare earths use in the United States in 2016.…”

“…Fluorine can be released with exhaust gases when molten salts are handled in open air in the molten salt electrolysis (MS-EW) process. 4 Hydrogen fluoride can also be generated in that process.…”

“…A Chicago-based investment consortium with a Chinese REE mining partner recently won the bid for part of the assets of the closed Mountain Pass mine. 102 This type of strategy enables China to own 42% of the global REE mineable deposits, 4 yet control 90-97% of the market. To reduce reliance on China, Japan has been looking to other nations including Kazakhstan and Vietnam.…”

“…3 Therefore, they have exceptional potential for wealth creation and green energy technological advancement. However, these benefits come with a serious social and environmental downside 4 such as illegal mining and subsequent environmental damage. In some cases, as described later in the paper, the potential for environmental damages has led to international controversies.…”

Intergenerational Externalities Influence for Exploitation Process of Rare Metal Minerals

“…The results indicated that the main factor that affected the sustainable development of rare earths was a lag in the development of an environmental protection system and a rare earth protection system. Using rare earths as an example, Okabe discussed the bottleneck in the supply of rare metals and the importance of recycling [17]. Huang studied the sustainable development of rare earth mining from the perspectives of the environment and public health [18].…”